Yes, Tsuyoshi Nishioka requested out of his contract with the Twins. And yes, he is walking away from a guaranteed $3.25 million. But the infielder's decision didn't happen in a vacuum, and it wasn't entirely his idea.

General manager Terry Ryan said there had been conversations with Nishioka's management team before the sides agreed to part Friday, Sept. 28, with one year left on a three-year, $9.25 million contract.

Released from the 40-man roster Aug. 20, Nishioka was staring down another season at Class AAA Rochester in 2013.

"He didn't want to be in Rochester, and not because it's not a nice affiliate; he didn't have that in mind from the get-go, and neither did we," Ryan said. "All right; how are we going to get this thing sound where both of us are happy? So I'm sure he'll do well in Japan, and it certainly frees up some payroll for us."

The move means Nishioka can sign with any club anywhere and releases the Twins from their obligation to pay his $3 million salary for 2013 and a $250,000 buyout on 2014.

All that's left now are the receipts and the punch lines from the team's first foray into Japanese baseball.

Winner of a 2010 batting title and the equivalent of Gold Gloves at second and shortstop, Nishioka was supposed to fill a middle infield slot and bat second behind Denard Span as the Twins retooled for a run at a third straight American League Central title.

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Instead, he became an albatross, a reminder the past two seasons of everything that was wrong with a Twins organization badly in need of a tuneup.

Then-GM Bill Smith paid Chiba Lotte of the Nippon Professional League $5.32 million for negotiating rights, then signed Nishioka to a three-year deal worth $9.25 million.

"Obviously we had high hopes when we purchased his rights and brought him over," said Ryan, a special assistant to Smith at the time. "Unfortunately, it didn't work out for either party's best interest, so I think we made a good thing out of a tough situation."

Ryan expects Nishioka to return to resume his career in Japan.

In a statement released Friday morning, Nishioka thanked the Twins for fulfilling his dream of playing major league baseball, which he did 71 times over two seasons, hitting .215 with five doubles, 20 runs batted in and 14 runs scored. He spent the rest of his time either on the disabled list -- he missed two months with a broken leg, and his 2011 season was cut short by an oblique injury -- or at Rochester, where he hit .258 with a .310 on-base percentage in 101 games this season.

"I take full responsibility for my performance which was below my own expectations," Nishioka said. "At this time, I have made the decision that it is time to part ways. I have no regrets and know that only through struggle can a person grow stronger."

In 2010, Nishioka had a .346 batting average and 206 hits, leading Chiba Lotte to a Japan League championship. He showed up early for 2011 spring training with his own team of trainers but was unprepared for big-league baseball. In his second big-league series, he was taken out by Nick Swisher as Swisher broke up a double-play attempt at New York, breaking his fibula.

The leg healed, but his major league career never recovered. He was sent to minor league camp on the second day of 2012 spring training cuts and played in Rochester until being recalled on Aug. 6. He played all three games of a series in Cleveland, proving once and for all that he was never going to play regularly for the Twins.

Playing second base, Nishioka fielded the first batted ball of the day and committed an error of epic proportions, trying to catch a high-hopper heel-up. After the ball bounced off his chest, he bobbled it a few times before trying to throw to first. While falling, he shot-putted the ball into foul territory. The play served as a GIF for the entire Nishioka experiment, though it wasn't the end of a bad series.

The straw that broke the camel's back came in the third game, when Nishioka lost a pop fly in the sun. Unable to find it, he threw up his hands, turned his back and walked away from the play, leaving Ben Revere to run in from right field and keep the runner at second. The play infuriated Ryan, who addressed it the next day, saying, "That's not acceptable."

Nishioka never played another game for the Twins and on Aug. 20 was released from the 40-man roster, going unclaimed by 29 other teams.

"It was tough," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I'm sure it was a big decision for him. I think he wants to get into a situation where he gets an opportunity to kind of renew it and start over. I know he understands what happened up here; it just didn't work out for him."